Overview

On a brisk February morning while walking to work, Ruth Foster is stopped by the local sheriff. He insists she accompany him to a health clinic, threatening to arrest her if she doesn't undergo testing in order to preserve decency and prevent the spread of sexual disease. Though Ruth has never shared more than a kiss with a man, by day's end she is one of dozens of women held at the State Industrial Farm Colony for Women. Some are there because they were reported for promiscuity by neighbors, husbands, strangers. Some were accused of prostitution. Others were just pretty and unmarried. Or poor and ""suspicious."" One was eating dinner alone in a restaurant. Another spoke to a soldier. Josephine's sin was running a business as a single woman. Maude's was trying to drown her sorrows. Frances had lost her mind. Opal married a man with a mean streak. Some, like fifteen year old Stella, are brought in because they're victims of assault. Superintendent Dorothy Baker, convinced that she's transforming degenerate souls into upstanding members of society, oversees the women's medical treatment and ""training"" until they're deemed ready for parole. Everyone at the Colony learns to abide by Mrs. Baker's rule book or face the consequences--solitary confinement, grueling work assignments, and worse. But some refuse to be cowed. Some find ways to fight back--at any cost.

Full Product Details

9798228780187

Table of Contents

Reviews

Author Information

Donna Everhart is a USA Today bestselling author known for vividly evoking challenges of the heart and the complex heritage of the American South in her acclaimed novels Women of a Promiscuous Nature, When the Jessamine Grows, The Saints of Swallow Hill, The Moonshiner's Daughter, The Forgiving Kind, The Road to Bittersweet, and The Education of Dixie Dupree. A finalist for the Southern Book Prize, she is the recipient of the prestigious North Carolina Society of Historians Award of Excellence, the SELA Outstanding Southeastern Author Award from the Southeastern Library Association, the Lucy Bramlette Patterson Award from the General Federation of Women's Clubs of North Carolina, and her novels have received a SIBA Okra Pick, an Indie Next Pick, and three Publishers Marketplace Buzz Books selections. Born and raised in Raleigh, she has stayed close to her hometown for much of her life and now lives just an hour away in Dunn, North Carolina. After earning a degree in musical theater and spending several years hustling on the business side of the film industry, Lisa Larsen has found her way back to her first love: performing. Lisa narrates from her home studio in the foothills of Los Angeles. When she's not embodying the characters of strong heroines, feisty teenagers, cranky old men, or alluring vampires, she's devoting time to her daughters, mucking up her kitchen baking healthy treats, riding her bike, or enjoying a DIY project with her husband.

Tab Content 6

Countries Available